WEBVTT
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Fire Eyes Media. Justine Vanderschute had her whole life ahead
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of her at just seventeen years old. She was bright
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and vibrant, always the life of the party. She was
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known to be quite funny, and her family described her
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as being a little firecracker. Unfortunately, before she even got
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the chance to make some tough decisions for herself, her
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life was cut short. With that said, let's get into
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Justine's story. Welcome to another episode of Truly Twisted. As always,
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I'm your host, Alicia Watson, and every Thursday, I will
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be bringing you a true and twisted story that is
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always victim focused and fact based. Thank you so much
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for being here, and remember to subscribe so that you
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never miss an episode. And whether I've caught you on
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your commute to work, cleaning your house, or at the gym,
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I do just want to warn you that this story
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is hard to hear, and I would like to give
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a trigger warning for domestic abuse before we get started.
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On September first, two thousand and three, Justine Vanderschute and
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her family were celebrating Labor Day by having a family barbecue.
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Justine would invite her boyfriend Danny over, and it was
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just like any other night at the household. Danny Besmer
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did not have the greatest home life himself and would
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often spend time at Justine's house. They had become the
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family that he never got to have. Justine and her
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older sister Christine were extremely close and just eighteen months apart,
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so they shared a lot of the same friends. That
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is actually how Danny and Justine would meet in the
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first place. Christine had become friends with Brandon Fernandez and
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he invited his best friend Danny to her pool party. Originally,
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he had planned to set up Christine and Danny, but
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Danny hit it off with Justine. They had a lot
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of common interests and for him, it was definitely love
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at first sight. Of course, Christine didn't mind, but just
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so you get an idea of their circle and how
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they met. Danny and Justine became serious fast and often
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talked about their future together and marriage. At the time,
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Justine was fifteen and Danny was seventeen. Justine's father, Don
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got Danny a job working with him at an auto
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dealership as his first job, and he quickly became a
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part of their family. Given Danny's home life, her parents
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wanted to give him that support. He even got a
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key to the Vanderschut's house in case he needed to
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come there when they weren't home. Justine was incredibly creative
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and would often design and sew her own clothing. She
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was heading into her graduating year in two thousand and
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three and she wanted to work in fashion when she
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was done school. Honestly very cool. She was incredibly ambitious
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in fact, and Danny didn't really like that. He was
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obsessed with the fear of losing her. Danny was controlling
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over who Justine's friends were and would make her feel
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bad anytime she did anything outside of hanging out with him.
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When he saw her next, he would ask her a
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bunch of questions about who was there and what they did.
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It was honestly starting to feel a little bit suffocating.
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Justine would confide in Brandon's girlfriend, Lindsey Morris about their troubles,
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and was even quoted as saying she was worried if
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she ever broke up with him that he wouldn't ever
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really let her go. Justine believed that part of the
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issues in her relationship was Danny's friendship with Brandon. She
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knew that he had cheated on his own girlfriend and
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didn't feel like he was a very good person or
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a good influence on that matter. Danny and Brandon would
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lose touch for about a year as a result, but
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in two thousand and two the boys would reconnect and
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actually ended up moving in together. Danny had graduated and
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he needed to get his own place, and because of
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the trouble with Justine, he couldn't always rely on being
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at her house. The tensions became quite high between Justine, Danny,
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and Brandon. Brandon openly hated Justine, calling her a whore.
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He thought of her as a thorn in his friendship
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with Danny. By April of two thousand and three, things
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had reached ahead during a spring break trip to Florida
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and April, Justine had met someone she really liked. He
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was a Navy seal in Pensacola, and if anything, the
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meeting opened her eyes even more to the problems that
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she was facing with Danny. Nothing happened between the two
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of them, but she was very unhappy in her relationship.
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Justine would tell her friends about the Navy seal guy,
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how she thought he was cute and that she would
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like to spend more time with him, but again, leaving
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a relationship that is controlling is hard and not to
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mention statistically dangerous. Rumors began to spread and Danny became
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obsessed with the fact that Justine must be cheating on him.
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While at a party at Danny and Brandon's house, Justine
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and Lindsey had a major heart to heart on the
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front porch. They both felt like they deserved better in
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their relationships and that they had had enough. They made
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a pack to break up with the boys, which brings
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us back to the start of our story. The next morning,
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September two, when Justine's mother went into her room to
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say goodbye before she left for work, she found that
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she wasn't in her bed. In fact, the front door
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was unlocked and Justine's truck was gone. Many searches would
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be held for Justine in the community. Missing person's flyers
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with a pink ribbon were hung up all over town
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because pink was her favorite color, and Justine's family had
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shirts and distributed them amongst everyone. They were incredibly worried
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as this was not like their daughter. Danny was also
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very involved with the searches and appeared to be incredibly distraught.
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Investigators got their first break in the search when Justine's
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truck was located at a park and ride. The doors
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were locked and it appeared that she had left it
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there intentionally. This was also along a very busy interstate,
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so she could have gone anywhere. Did she possibly go
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and meet up with this Navy seal guy? Did she
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run away on her own accord, or did something horrible
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happen to her. Investigators were able to track down the
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Navy seal guy pretty much right away, but it became
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clear quickly that he knew nothing about Justine's disappearance and
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was cleared as a suspect. Police continued to search the
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immediate area around the park and ride, and that is
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what am named Matt Scribner came forward. He said that
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a few weeks prior, while riding the trails in the
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area training one of his horses, that he had come
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across a freshly dug hole. He thought it was strange,
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but at the time he didn't think anything of it.
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It's not until he saw investigators in the area searching
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for Justine that something clicked for him and that the
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two things could possibly be involved. But when he had
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ridden back to the area, a week later where he
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saw the hole. It didn't appear to be there anymore,
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and he couldn't find where it was, but at least
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this gave them an area to search and some people
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to talk to. At just eighteen years old, Danny had
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a history of run ins with the law, having been
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arrested for theft and possession of stolen property. Brandon Fernandez,
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at twenty one, was not much better. He was known
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for his intelligence and cunning nature, and he seemed to
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have a fascination with violence, often discussed harming others. He
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even went as far as creating a website ranking levels
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of violence, complete with images of crime scenes and dead bodies.
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Truly disturbed. Like I said earlier, Danny didn't have a
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great upbringing and looked up to Brandon in a way. This,
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along with Brandon's hatred of Justine and Danny's controlling nature,
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is likely what led to Justine's tragic murder. Danny and
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Brandon were both interviewed in the early days of the investigation,
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having been close with Justine, but claimed to have been
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home together the evening of September first. According to Danny,
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he went home after dinner at the Bandershoots and hung
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out with Brandon. Police were definitely suspicious of the two
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of them from the beginning because of their past experiences
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with the law. Justine's friends coming forward with concerns over
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Danny and reports of how controlling he tended to be
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also solidified their suspicions. Brandon's girlfriend, Lindsay even reported that
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he had told her if he ever wanted to kill
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her that no one would find her, and while he
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played this off as a joke, it was incredibly disturbing
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and given that Auburn, California, where this story takes place,
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is incredibly wooded and vast, that would scare me. Investigators
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continued to follow up with Danny and Brandon and enlisted
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the help of the FBI to do further interviews with them.
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Brandon's phone had two miss calls to Justine on the
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evening of September. First, he said that he had been
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jet skiing with friends while Danny was at the Vanderschoots
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and headed home because he wasn't feeling very well. He
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said that the reason that he'd called Justine twice was
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because he had gotten pulled over for running a stop
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sign on the way home and meant to call his
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girlfriend Lindsey and that their names are side by side
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in his phone. Okay, but the boys would be caught
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in their first lie. Brandon's cousin, Clayton Cole, and a
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friend had actually spent the night at Danny and Brandon's
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the night that Justine went missing, so they weren't home
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alone hanging out together as they had previously said. Clayton
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told detectives that he had seen Brandon and Danny leave
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the house and that they did not come back until
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much later. During their second interview with Brandon, the FBI
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had some new proof up their sleeves as a result.
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After this tip, Clayton was asked to call Brandon and
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wear a wire, and they played that recorded call back
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to Brandon. In the call, basically, it says that Clayton
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is feeling guilty and that he needs to go to
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the police about Justine. Brandon tells his cousin that he
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can't do that because it would basically fuck up their plan.
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Brandon was completely rattled by this phone call, and FBI
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asked him if he had ever seen anyone die. Brandon
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went completely white and hung his head, telling agents how
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afraid he was of Danny and that he needed protection
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before he told them anything else. He said that Danny
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strangled Justine in the back of his car, and that
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he had no idea Danny was going to do that.
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He said that the three of them were planning on
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sneaking out and stealing some marijuana from a local farm.
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Apparently Danny had tapped Justine's phone and was trying to
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catch her cheating, and he was planning on hurting her,
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but he had no idea what it would be. That night,
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he said that he had met Danny and Justine at
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the park and ride around midnight, and they drove his car.
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Danny was giving him directions on where to go and
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when they parked, he said that Danny told him he
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wanted to be alone with Justine to talk privately, so
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he got out of the car and walked aways away
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to give them some privacy. Brandon then said that he
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heard a car horn followed by a scream and hurried
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back to find Danny had strangled Justine. Brandon's statements became
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more inconsistent. On the one hand, he said that he
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didn't know that Danny was going to do that, but
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on the other hand, he said that he was worried
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about Justine and that the two missed calls on her
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phone were him trying to get a hold of Danny
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to stop him. But you also walked away and left
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him alone with him. Nothing is adding up here. Brandon
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claimed that all he had done was help Danny bury
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the body. He blamed everything on Danny in fact, but
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he would lead investigators to where she was buried. Truly twisted.
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We'll be right back after this quick ad break, and
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on September eighteenth, two thousand and three, over two weeks
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after Justine had gone missing, her remains would be found,
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and the grave was covered in debris to cover the
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disturbed dirt, which is why Matt wasn't able to find
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it again when he went back. Danny had removed Justine's
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clothes before putting her in the grave and then dumped
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chemicals all over her to beat up decomposition. Brandon's interview
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gives even more inconsistencies to her time of death as well.
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In one account that he gave, she was lifeless when
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he came back to the car, and in another she
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was still breathing slightly after they placed her in the grave,
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and he began crying and praying for her to just
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go so that it would all be over. Allegedly, Danny
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told Brandon that if he told anyone, he would kill him, Lindsey,
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and himself. Brandon said that he was scared and that's
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why he didn't intervene. So there's just inconsistencies all over
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the map. But the interview was four and a half
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hours before he led investigators to where Justine was buried.
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Danny and Brandon were immediately arrested for Justine's murder. The
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search for her was finally over, but justice would continue
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to be a fight. Danny would be interviewed again and
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told detectives that he started to strangle Justine, but she
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said in a fight for her life, Danny, I love you,
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and that Brandon encouraged him to keep going, saying that
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it was too late now and that it would already
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be attempted murder. After she was placed in the grave,
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they poured drain cleaner over her and Brandon poured some
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down her throat. Justine's official cause of death was homicidal violence,
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but her autopsy showed dirt deep with in her lungs,
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indicating that she was still alive when she was buried
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and had ingested some of the dirt. The Vanderschoots wanted
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to avoid a lengthy and painful trial, so instead, prosecutors
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offered Danny a plea deal for full information of Brandon's
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involvement in exchange for a sentence of twenty five years
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to life for first degree murder. This would mean that
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there was a possibility of Danny being released when he
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was forty five years old. Brandon Fernandez pled guilty to